Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Pollution Control, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
J Hazard Mater. 2021 Apr 5;407:124861. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124861. Epub 2020 Dec 17.
Clothes washing releases numerous microfibers, including microplastic fibers (MPFs). Although MPFs in laundry wastewater are an important source of microplastics (MPs) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), credible quantitative assessments of their contributions remain limited. Polyester fiber is the most important textile fiber. Its component, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymer, can be quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The release of MPFs from polyester clothes through washing was quantified via simulation experiments, and the MPFs in two WWTPs were measured by microscopic counting and LC-MS/MS. Direct comparison of the abundances of PET MPFs in laundry wastewater and WWTP influents led to an undervalued contribution rate of 9%-11% of the PET MPFs in laundry wastewater to those in WWTP influents. However, comparison of the mass of PET MPFs in laundry wastewater and WWTPs influents revealed that the PET MPFs from laundry contributed approximately 50% of those in the WWTPs. The latter was confirmed by comparing the number of polyester fibers released during clothes washing to the calculated number of "model MPFs" in WWTPs according to the PET mass concentration. Based on the PET concentration, the annual discharge of PET MPs from WWTPs to the water environment could also be estimated.
衣物洗涤会释放大量微纤维，包括微塑料纤维（MPF）。虽然洗衣废水中的 MPF 是污水处理厂（WWTP）中微塑料（MP）的重要来源，但对其贡献的可信定量评估仍然有限。聚酯纤维是最重要的纺织纤维。其组成部分，聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）聚合物，可以通过液相色谱-串联质谱法（LC-MS/MS）进行定量。通过模拟实验定量测定了聚酯衣物在洗涤过程中释放的 MPF，并用显微镜计数和 LC-MS/MS 测量了两个 WWTP 中的 MPF。洗衣废水中 PET MPF 的丰度与 WWTP 进水的直接比较导致洗衣废水中 PET MPF 对 WWTP 进水的贡献率低估了 9%-11%。然而，洗衣废水中 PET MPF 的质量与 WWTP 进水的比较表明，洗衣废水中的 PET MPF 约占 WWTP 中的 50%。根据 PET 质量浓度，根据计算的 WWTP 中“模型 MPF”数量与衣物洗涤过程中释放的聚酯纤维数量进行比较，证实了这一点。根据 PET 浓度，还可以估算 WWTP 向水环境中排放的 PET MPs 的年排放量。
